– How to Find Energy & Enthusiasm for Change –

I was skiing from camp at Castle Rock to my truck which was loaded with winter provisions and parked on the other side of the wilderness boundary. I made the half-day trip every two or three weeks to resupply. It would be my last run of the season, however; in a month, I’d be starting over again.

“Starting over again,” I thought and smiled to myself. Partly because the phrase was so flawed (and, as a writer, I paid attention to words) and partly because I was happy to get outside.

Heavy cloud cover and steady snow kept all the critters under cover for the last few days – including me – and we were glad to finally move around under a big blue sky. My skishoes (also known as ‘snowshoe skis’) were as fun as they were functional that morning. I exercised my freedom as a modern-day mountain man and soaked up my surroundings.

Starting New Chapters

When I say ‘live the lives you imagine’ (and I preach it to anyone who’ll stand around long enough to listen), I mean write new chapters in your story. Life is not nor should it be limited to a single chapter or two; new chapters should be written every time you feel the need to change or add to your story. “Starting over” enabled me to live quite a few of the lives I imagined…

• World Traveler
• Tech Exec
• Mountain Man

..and you could add ‘Writer’ to that list. ‘United States Marine’, too. All those chapters in my life involved some degree of Starting Over. There were lots of little restarts in between, too. Not all were successful, but they were all great chapters and I wanted more. Even if it meant starting over again at 40, 50, or 60.

(Something about that phrase “starting over” strikes me as negative; the perspective is wrong. It implies that I’ve lost everything and have to go back to the beginning… but starting [over][something new] is a good thing, in my opinion. In my experience, too.)

At 40: First Big Reset

As a young man, I thought about, dreamed about, made plans to explore the world and discover its best-kept secrets. It was the coolest lifestyle I could imagine; having a passport and a briefcase and an office that was usually empty, speaking foreign languages, eating exotic foods, and gallivanting in places reserved for daring and dangerous men.

That life could not be found at the Employment Office; they did not advertise those kinds of jobs. It was a small niche controlled by international service companies… especially those in the oil business. There was a specific combination of skill and experience required to get those jobs. After finishing my service obligation to the Marine Corps, I learned what I needed to know to find my way into the ‘patch. I lived the life I imagined; a fantastic chapter that lasted more than ten years.

Then it was time to settle down. Getting married and having a family meant starting over in my prime, yet it sounded like a great thing to do. I had to change my perspective, maybe change my plan a little, certainly change my lifestyle… all part of the natural evolution of boy-to-man. Not so much ‘starting over’ as ‘starting a new chapter’.

As a young man, I learned about finding oil so I could get a job overseas and travel the world. It was exciting to see how the big rigs worked and how expats lived abroad. When I moved back to the States to raise a family, I had to find a new career; maybe in the computer business. New knowledge, new friends, a new life… learning to manage change.

At 50: An Unplanned Opportunity

The next one was a little tougher. Sometimes the situation is the boss and all we can do is make the best of it. It’s like going down the river of life and getting surprised by some rapids, maybe losing an oar… and subsequent events more or less out of your control start thrashing you across the rocks and dragging you underwater. Sometimes it’s just your turn under the Wheel of Life.

I was starting over at 50 because my old life wasn’t working anymore. I had to do something else, something different. Instead of changing the names in the same old script, I chose to write something new:

• Find new life in the same town? Oxymoronic, for me.
• Move to the islands? That might be fun…
• Move to the mountains? That was something I’d always had in the back of my mind… move to the backcountry and become a mountain man.

You, too, could embrace the same process but might become something different… that part doesn’t matter. Live the lives YOU imagine. What matters is that you get excited about learning as a means of achieving your goals.

I‘ve learned that WE can learn almost anything we WANT to learn… especially the things that excite us. There’s no downside, nothing negative about moving forward. And starting over is invigorating. There’s an aspect of youthful curiosity in apprenticeship. I was the oldest guy in Guide & Packer School but easily the most enthusiastic. Starting over keeps us young.

At 60: It Gets Easier With Practice

I did the mountain man thing and it went a lot further than I expected. I didn’t know that my Idaho adventure would lead to employment in the backcountry… didn’t know that I’d write a book (or a series of them)… didn’t know I’d learn everything about living alone in the wild & decide to leave it to start over again in the city.

Starting to see a pattern?

It’s not ‘starting over’. That’s bad phrasing… the wrong perspective.

It is starting something new and different. Exercising our freedom of choice for a richer life. Maybe a different life, maybe just an extension or evolution of the one we’re living. I lived the life in the wilderness that I imagined, then decided to reengage with the world. How? I didn’t know exactly (but that wasn’t going to stop me)… so I imagined a few scenarios that might excite me.

The first scenario was well-planned but poorly timed. On the path, however, I passed – no, I spotted another opportunity and made time to check it out. It looked like an adventure… read like a worthwhile chapter. I had to learn some things: immigration laws and a new language. It was like starting over, but I did it anyway.

Get Excited about Starting Over

Three things I needed:

• Trust (that something better is possible)
• Courage (to fail. sometimes that happens)
• Honesty (with myself)

Three things I did not need:

• Youth
• Money
• Approval

You don’t need to wait for something bad to happen… or wait because ‘life is good enough’. It’s your birthright to expect the best from life.

You don’t need to do anything dramatic. Maybe just say ‘yes’ to yourself, to your daydreams, to good ideas for living your best life.

Start over again and again. Write an amazing story.

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